Steve Jobs’ quotes allowed in Apple-Google patent trial

They say the dead don’t talk. But it seems we’ll be hearing a little more from Steve Jobs in Apple Inc.’s patent lawsuit against Motorola Mobility Inc. (which Google Inc. recently acquired). A judge on Thursday rejected Apple’s bid to keep some of Jobs’ juicier quotes out of the upcoming trial in Chicago.

Before his death in October 2011, Jobs had discussed the lawsuit—which accuses Google’s smartphone platform, Android, of infringing on Apple’s iPhone—with his biographer, Walter Isaacson. Jobs accused Google of “grand theft,” and said "I'm willing to go to thermonuclear war on this."

Acknowledging that Jobs was “very angry” over the perceived infringement, Apple asked last month that the quotes be barred from trial, to avoid prejudice. The judge rejected its request with no explanation.